Fast & Short is a flash fiction collaboration between eight Literate Ape writers. Each was tasked with authoring one piece of flash fiction that would be combined to create a single short story. The writers’ flash fiction needed to serve two purposes: 1. Stand alone as a unique piece of flash fiction and 2. Serve as a vehicle for building a larger story and driving that story forward. Over the next two weeks, Literate Ape will publish all eight flash fiction stories individually with a link to the growing compilation. We hope you enjoy this literary experiment.

—DH2 , co-editors

By David Himmel

THANK GOD FOR THE DOG. If not for her, my girlfriend wouldn’t let me leave the house. When the pandemic got serious, she didn’t care about toilet paper; she b-lined it for the milk. Our freezer is perfectly packed with Swedish meatballs, broccoli florets, and twenty-three gallon-size Ziplocs of milk.

“The milk,” she said, “matters most because of how much cereal you eat. And we’re not stepping out of this apartment until this whole thing passes. Not for anything. You can take Maggie out, but that’s it!”

“Thanks for thinking of me,” I said. “What kind of cereal did you stock up on?”

Sarah glared at me like I’d insulted her, like I wasn’t taking this whole thing seriously. There was so much rage in her eyes, and it came so fast. Her jaw clenched so tightly that it changed the shape of her face. I didn’t recognize her. I was sure she was going to explode and kick me and Maggie out of the apartment. Cast us into the infected world to spread the disease and die under an overpass. I carefully asked the question again. “What kind of cereal did you stock up on?”

Through gritted teeth, she replied, “I forgot to get cereal.”

To be continued…